Happy April Fools' Day! The Bacon is an annual April Fools' edition. To the best of our knowledge, all of the articles within the 12 pages of the real edition of the Beacon are accurate, and all ads are real.

Time Marches On: Fashion show at Behrend by Danielle Marshall staff writer Yes, time did march on as Behrend students modeled into the latest styles and trends for the present Spring and upcoming Summer seasons. Last Thursday, the National Society of Black Engineers sponsored their annual fashion show held in the Reed Commons. There were about fifty eager students, faculty, and visitors patiently waiting to see what's hot and what's not. The styles on display ranged from army-style attire and swimwear to casual and business wear. In the swimsuit category, the ladies either wore a two-piece or one-piece colorful bathing suit with a matching sarong skirt tied around their waists. The models introduced the bright neon colors that seem to be the choice for this summer. The guys wore either the traditional swimming trunks or swimming briefs. The audience couldn't help but anticipate the hot, sunny days to come. In the military scene, about six students chanted and marched down th...

Seeing the Unseen at Astronomy Open House by Ryan Cannon Staff writer An astronomy open house entitled "Neutrinos in the Universe" was held this past Thursday in the Otto Behrend Science Building. Dr. Roger Knacke, who received his B.S. and Ph.D. in physics at Berkeley, delivered his third "Open House" presentation this academic year. Assistant Professor of Physics Dr. Darren Williams prepared impressive slides which were easy to understand. The audience also enjoyed music, composed in the 1750s by astronomer William Herschel. Neutrinos, discovered in the 1920s, are one of the smallest things in the universe. A neutrino is smaller than an atom, and the word "neutrino" actually means "little Neutral One." The first neutrino was not even seen until twenty-five years after its discovery. Neutrinos are one of the resultants whenever two protons collide. Colossal amounts of energy are involved in this collision, giving the neutrino a tremendous amount of speed. This occurs in sta...

SGA springs into action; by Ayodele Jones managing editor Spring is here, and with this new season the Behrend Student Government Association has experienced some new changes. SGA's main pur-X)se is to address student needs, and with the addition of two new Senators, the Student Government will be well on its way to accomplishing its goals. Jose Orama 04 History, is ¦ eady to serve the students. "As an SGA Senator, I am willing to be at the disposal of the students. Right now I am concentrating on making the upcoming elections a success by urging the student body to turnout and rate for their fellow classmates, candidates. Jim Buzzard 06, EE said, 'Basically I have a lot of complaints with the school, and a lot of people have a lot of complaints with the school, I just want to try and solve them." In addition to these new appointments, SGA has been relatively busy doing many things, including attempts to get a FM radio station on campus. At the current time, SGA is in the firs...

Give us a break! A view from the lighthouse What's up with the fact that Penn State students receive no days off for Easter or any other holiday for that matter? Several universities nearby have several days off for the holiday. We don't even have one measly day off to observe Easter, not even Good Friday. Besides that, we have no other holidays off during the school year, including Passover, Yom Kippur, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's birthday, etc. A large majority of students on campus are Christian and do celebrate Easter. Why can't Penn State make the Easter holiday an official day off for these students? Also, students need days off some time in their schedule, especially during the spring season. This is a time when students become a little "antsy" with all the work and tests they have been bogged down with. They also want to spend more time outside due to the nice weather. Why not give hard-working students a break by giving them a day off? This day off would never...

Live From Guyana The lazy bug disorder AYOOHI.E JONES I m tired, just tired, tired, tired. If it sounds like I'm whining, it's because I am (Hey, ask my mom, I'm really good at it). Ever since I returned from Spring Break, it seems like the semester has just been flying by. Every week another paper is due, and there is another test I have to take. I mean, don't teachers know that after Spring Break students catch this disorder called the lazy bug and it just takes over our lives? Teachers are so concerned with finishing everything and anything that they are totally oblivious to the twenty-something students sleeping or daydreaming in class. In addition to the lazy bug, the beautiful weather we've been having doesn't make the situation any better. Nice weather + a couple of lazy bones = laying in the sun. When the weather gets really nice, who really feels like reading that 18th chapter in our history book? I don't know about you but each day that passes, I am one day close...

Is the guitar solo dead? Th.fi Lobster and the. Music to the Dance of Life MIKR PERKINS I like a lot of today s music. There are many very talented musicians in the Rock world, but most of the music is lacking in one respect - the Guitar Solo. Gone are the glory days of the ten minute guitar anthem with the soulful joining of man, guitar and amp. The world today is populated with the blaring power chords that any reasonable musician can emulate. What it lacks is the skillful blending of bends, taps and dives - the trademark of a master guitarist. With the increased use of synthetic sounds, many modern bands are covering up their lack of ability by simply not utilizing the solo. In times gone by, one of the greatest indicators of a band's merit was their solos, but this is being replaced by presenting a complete freakish image (Marilyn Manson) or appealing to teeny hoppers (Hanson) for the sole purpose of selling more albums. Some may argue that Rock and Roll bands of the pas...

Guest Column: Real manhood: character Manhood. It's a dream that all aspiring, prc-adolescent males dream of achieving one day. But what exactly is it? How is it achieved? If you asked ten people to define manhood, chances are you would get at least ten different answers. Some would say manhood is achieved when you can smash beer cans on your forehead. Others would say that manhood is achieved by sleeping with a different woman every weekend, then bragging about it. Others might say that manhood is such an ambiguous term that the definition can't exactly be pinpointed. Even though many people have many dif ferent definitions of what manhood is, I believe that there is one ingredient essential to achieving it: character. A strong personal and moral character is quintessential of the foundation of being a real man. Without this ingredient, a person will have no backbone of principles and values that they base life's decisions on. Instead, they will base decisions on the emotio...

SPRING COMMENCEMENT The Spring 1999 Commencement ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 15, at noon on the Reed Union Building lawn. In case of inclement weather, two ceremonies will be held. The first will begin at 12:00 noon and the second at 2:30pm, both in Erie Hall. Seniors who intend to participate in the graduation ceremony must purchase a cap and gown from the bookstore. Prices are as follows: Baccalaureate-black (keeper) $22.75, Associate- blue (Keeper) $22.75, Graduate- black cap gown, hood (keeper)- $46.00 and Graduate black cap, gown, hood (rental)-$35.25. The deadline to order caps and gowns is April 9. Beginning April 6, graduation announcements may be purchased on a walk-in basis from the Media and Instructional Support Center (MISC) in the Academic Building. The cost is 35 cents for each announcement. ELM CITY ENSEMBLE AT BEHREND APRIL 13 Music at Noon: The Logan Wintergarden Series will close its 1998-99 season with a performance by the Elm City Ensemble ...

, • CORNELL ASTRONOMER 1 TO SPEAK AT BEHREND Dr. Yervant Terzian, astronomer and director of the New York State Pew ! Cluster of Colleges and Universities , for the improvement of undergraduate science education, will present The Magnificent University on Thursday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. His lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Otto Behrend Science Building. Terzian has been associated with the Arecibo Observatory since 1965. His areas of study include the physics of the interstellar medium, HII regions, the evolution of late type stars, binary galaxies, colliding galaxies, and the physics of planetary nebulae. With students and collaborators he has used the Arecibo radio telescope, the Palomar fivemeter telescope, the International Ultraviolet Space Explorer, and others. His current work uses the Hubble Space Telescope to study the detailed structure of planetary nebulae. Terzian's lecture will explor...

College students look to change their communities instead of the world By Carolyn Barta Knight-Ridder Newspapers A cartoon in the student newspaper at Southern Methodist University shortly before the November election lampooned a sorority girl being reminded to vote. "Don't be silly," the cartoon coed replied. "Homecoming isn't for another two weeks." At the University of Texas, student Cecilia Conti recently explained to a reporter why she wandered away from a student union TV during Gov. George W. Bush's inauguration: "Not to be rude, but I'm not into government." Typical attitudes on college campuses today? Hardly. While partisan politics hold little attraction for collegians, interviews on some Texas campuses show, that doesn't mean students arc uninvolved or disinterested. Two and three decades ago, campuses were a hotbed of anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, civilrights activism and antiestablishment protests. College students saw politics as a way to change the world. T...